1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a method of controlling the operation of the mobile terminal, in which the mobile terminal can be easily released from lock mode and then placed in a predefined operating mode simply by multi-touching a certain part of the mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile terminals are portable devices, which can provide users with various services such as a voice calling service, a video calling service, an information input/output service, and a data storage service.
As the types of services provided by mobile terminals diversify, an increasing number of mobile terminals have been equipped with various complicated functions such as capturing photos or moving pictures, playing music files or moving image files, providing game programs, receiving broadcast programs and providing wireless internet services and have thus evolved into multimedia players.
Various attempts have been made to realize such complicated functions as hardware devices or software programs. For example, various user interface (UI) environments, in which users are allowed to easily search for and choose desired functions, have been developed. In addition, the demand for various designs for mobile terminals such as a double-sided liquid crystal display (LCD) or a full touch screen has steadily grown due to a growing tendency of considering mobile terminals as personal items that can represent personal individuality.
Mobile terminals equipped with touch screens can be placed in lock mode. When in the lock mode, the mobile terminals do not respond to any typical touch signal input thereto from the touch screens or any typical key signal input thereto from user input units. The mobile terminals can be released from the lock mode by touching their touch screens for more than a predefined amount of time or entering a password or a certain key signal.
However, in the case of using a touch or key-based lock/unlock feature, mobile terminals may be accidentally placed in or released from lock mode. On the other hand, in the case of using a password-based lock/unlock feature, mobile terminals may not be able to be quickly released from lock mode and enter a desired operating mode.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop ways to release a mobile terminal from lock mode and then readily enter any operating mode while preventing the mobile terminal from being accidentally unlocked.